


Fathers & Sons

by Formula_Tea, siriuslywinchester



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Adoption, Dan2, M/M, Rolipe, adorable cuteness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-12 22:35:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4497306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Formula_Tea/pseuds/Formula_Tea, https://archiveofourown.org/users/siriuslywinchester/pseuds/siriuslywinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Permanent Hiatus</b> - siriuslywinchester continues Dan^2 Baby Toro Brosso @ <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/5647456/">Bulls & Calves</a></p><p> </p><p>Neighbours are unexpectedly thrown together when two Father’s - split from their wives and living together - find themselves living next door to two young men who have adopted two young boys.  The children, who become firm friends at school, find themselves getting into more mischief than their parents seem to care for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Massa Smedleys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter by bethonie

Even coming to the end of the summer holidays, it was still nice out. Rob was sure the kids would be hyped up, full of sugar and ice cream. Felipe had _said_ he wouldn’t let the kids have too many ice cream breaks when Rob had left for work, but he knew the kids had him wrapped around their little fingers. That and Felipe was just as bad as them half the time.

The car was in the drive when Rob arrived home from work in the late afternoon. He’d been running packages about in a van with a broken air conditioning unit all day and really just wanted to get inside and cool down.

He climbed out of the van after parking across the drive. It was strangely quiet in the little cul-de-sac. Rob was sure he should have been able to hear the kids playing in the back garden. Something was not right.

The street was empty, nothing suspicious there…

Slowly, Rob made his way to the front door, trying to figure out what was wrong…

SPLASH!

An eruption of giggles sprang from the window above Rob’s head. By the time he looked up, water dripping from his hair, his assaulters had disappeared.

 _Right then_.

Rob followed the shrieks of laughter into the garden, where he was promptly ambushed by his _loving_ boyfriend and their sons.

“That’s not fair!” Rob cried, only for someone to spray their water pistol into his face.

Rob grabbed the nearest child, using him as a human shield and prising the gun out of the childs hand. He aimed it blindly, unable to see with the spray in his own face. Pulling the child with him, Rob headed to the fence that separated their own garden from next doors.

“Papa, you’re spraying me!” the child Rob was hiding behind screamed, trying to wriggle free.

The attack slowed to a stop as the water ran out. Rob heard Felipe call for the boys to get more water.

“Pea, you’re on my team, “ Rob said, lifting the child over the fence and quickly following him over.

“Cool!”

“What’s so- oh.”

The Ricciardo-Kvyat’s usually perfect garden had a new addition: a giant jungle gym.

“Is that for us?” Felipinho asked, eyes wide.

“Probably not,” Rob said, though he couldn’t imagine who else the giant toy would be for, “Go and knock on the back door and ask Dan to fill up your gun.”

He handed Felipinho the gun and patted his back to get him to stop staring at the new toy and move. It didn’t sound like the enemy had finished refilling their guns, but Rob knew better than to trust that. He dropped onto his knees, crawling along until he found the spy hole. The garden seemed to still be empty…

“Rob? I don’t think Dan is in,” Felipinho called. The poor boy was dripping wet, his teeth beginning to chatter even in the heat. Rob bit his lip, trying to come up with the best strategy for his little troop.

“Alright,” he said, nodding to himself to confirm his plan. He turned to Felipinho, still kneeling down in his now sopping wet jeans, and explained the plan to him. This _had_ to work.

Felipinho grinned at him, always ready to get into mischief, and set off down the path between their next door neighbour’s house and the fence. Rob stood, watching through the kitchen window as Felipe frantically tried to fill up all the guns they had, Frankie and Felix ‘helping’ him.

After a couple of seconds, they all looked up, peering through the house to the front door. Rob waited for the three of them to disappear before oh-so-gracefully climbing back over the fence and rushing into the house.

“Woah!”

Rob slipped, Felipe and the boys having practically flooded the kitchen, and landed with a smack on the floor, smashing his head on the tiles.

Felipe rushed back into the kitchen, all three boys following him in. For a moment, he just stared at his boyfriend, before bursting into a fit of laughter. Rob just glared at him, rubbing his still wet head. He’d find a way to get back at him…

The boys were still giggling as the sat eating their ice cream, glancing between Rob and each other. Rob was sat with a bag of ice on his head, trying to stay annoyed at them.

“Is not so bad,” Felipe said.

He’d landed the cleaning up duty and was now pushing a mop around the kitchen.

“Says you,” Rob muttered, “You’re not the one who’s going to need stitches in your head.”

“Is karma,” Felipe declared.

“You what?”

“Karma,” Felipe said, “You kidnap my son and turn him against me. Is your punishment.”

“Was only pretending to be on Rob’s side,” Felipinho said.

“Traitor,” Rob said.

Felipinho stuck his tongue out at the parent and Rob stuck his own out back, “And what’s your punishment for dropping a water balloon on my head?”

“That was Frankie’s idea,” Felipinho declared.

“Felipe said we could do it though,” Frankie said, quickly.

Rob turned to Felipe, waiting for some kind of explanation. Felipe just shrugged, still grinning.

“All's fair in love and war,” he said.

Rob rolled his eyes, shifting a little to put the ice a little closer to the spot on his head that was thumping.

“Daddy?” Felix said, slowly, peering at his half melted ice cream.

“Yes?” Rob said in the same tone.

“Do rabbits eat ice cream?” he asked.

_Not this again…_

“You know what, Felix, I don’t think they do,” Rob said, “Only people eat ice cream.”

“What do rabbits eat?” Felipinho asked.

“They eat carrots!” Frankie said, excitedly, “We read a book about it at school.”

“I know you did,” Rob said. It had been that book that had started all this off. Rob leaned back in his chair to try to see Felipe’s reaction, but he was pretending he hadn’t heard the conversation start.

“If we got a rabbit-,” Felipinho began.

“We’re not getting a rabbit,” Rob cut in.

“Yeah, but if we _did_ get a rabbit,” Felipinho said, “I would feed it.”

“Like you watered that sunflower we got you?” Rob reminded him.

Felipinho nodded, then stopped, struggling to remember the sunflower he’d killed last year.

“It doesn’t matter because we’re not getting a rabbit,” Rob said.

They had been having this conversation since the start of the summer holiday. Felipe and Rob had both decided it was not a good idea. The boys were already a handful and a rabbit added to the mix would not help.

“If we had a rabbit, what would we name it?” Frankie asked.

“We aren’t having a rabbit,” Rob said again, but none of the boys were listening anymore.

“Neymar!” Felipinho suggested.

Felix burst out laughing, almost dropping his ice cream.

“We can’t call the rabbit Neymar,” Frankie cried.

“Why not?”

“Because we’re not getting a rabbit,” Rob said.

“Because that’s not a rabbit name,” Frankie said, as if it were obvious. The more Felipinho thought about it, the more he didn’t understand why they couldn’t call the rabbit Neymar.

“What would you call it then?” Felipinho asked.

Frankie shrugged. He had a lot of names but he hadn’t decided which one was the best yet.

“We. Are not. Getting. A rabbit,” Felipe said slowly, leaning the mop against the wall, “Felix, come and wash your hands before they get all sticky.”

Felix hopped off the sofa, getting creamy hand-prints on the fabric. Felipe went with him to help, leaving the two older boys to whisper about rabbit names.

“There we are,” Felipe said, wiping Felix’s face. The toddler grinned at him.

“If we got a wabbit,” he said quietly, “I would want a fluffy white one.”

“Would you?” Felipe asked, “Well, it is a shame we are not having a rabbit, isn’t it?”

Felix pouted and Felipe ruffled his hair, helping him off the counter.

“You excited to see mummy this weekend?” Rob was asking when Felipe came back into the room. He was trying to get the subject away from rabbits and mentioning his ex-wife did so in an instant.

“Yes!” Frankie cried, “Mummy brings the best presents!”

“No!” Felipinho said, “ _My_ mummy brings the best presents.”

Both boy’s mothers worked abroad, traveling from country to country, with visits home few and far between, which meant lots of presents every visit.

“Both bring good presents,” Rob said.

“Not as good as Dan though,” Felipinho said.

“What’s not as good as Dan?” Felipe asked.

“Presents,” Felipinho explained, “Dan got us a super cool climbing frame thing. It’s in his garden.”

“I don’t think that’s for you guys, Pea,” Rob said, though he still hadn’t figured out who it was for. 

Felipe looked at him as if he were asking the same questions, but Rob just shrugged. How could anyone know what went through Daniel Ricciardo’s mind?

“Oh,” Felipinho said, disappointed. Maybe his mummy would bring the best present _ever_ then...

“Can we play pirates now?” Felix asked. He wanted to play actual pirates this time. Not water fight pirates.

“Yes, alright,” Felipe said, “You guys go out. I have to make sure Daddy’s head is alright.”

The boys raced out of the house, already arguing over who was on who’s team. Felipe laughed, forever impressed at how well the three of them got on, and came to sit beside Rob.

“So, how was your day?” he asked.

“Pretty shit, “ Rob said. He was going to need to get the air con fixed if this weather was going to keep up. It would be an easy decision to make if he thought the van would last until next summer, but that was on it’s last legs too.

“Oh?” Felipe said, “But you delivered lots of packages, yes?”

“Yeah,” Rob said. More packages meant more money and that was what they really needed right now.

“We’ll be fine,” Felipe insisted, as if he read Rob’s mind, “We always are.”


	2. The Ricciardo-Kvyat's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter by siriuslywinchester

Dan smiled at the man that stood before them. He'd introduced himself as Christian and he'd been quick to send his assistant away when he and Dany had entered the office. There were hand paintings and children's drawings filling the walls of the room and toys scattered about the floor. It wasn't at all as Dan had imagined an orphanage would look like, though all he really had to go on was _Annie_ and _Oliver Twist_.

"Carlos and Max will be down with Louisa in a moment," Christian said, smiling again, "They're both very excited to see you again. Would you like a tea or coffee?"

Both Dan's declined the offer. Dany had never been a big tea drinker and Dan was too nervous. His hands were shaking in his lap and he didn't trust himself not to spill tea everywhere. Dany reached over, gripping Dan's hand in his own and squeezing comfortingly, rubbing his thumb lightly across his partner's knuckles.

Christian smiled again, idly straightening some of the documentation on his desk as he waited for his assistant to return with the children. He always enjoyed days when children were re-homed, and between the fun loving Daniel and the big earning banker Daniil, he could see that Carlos and Max were going to a great family.

"But teddy can come too?" a child's voice broke in as the door opened, "They adopted teddy, yes?"

"Yes, Max," Louisa, the assistant replied, "Teddy has been adopted, too. And Carlos."

Dan grinned at Dany as Max and Carlos emerged into the room, rucksacks on their backs as they clutched each others hands and followed the assistant to Christian's desk.

They had spent plenty of time with the two young boys over the past months, visiting them at the orphanage and taking them on day trips under supervision of orphanage staff. Max, the youngest at just two years old, had fluffy mousey hair and a big pout, constantly clutching his teddy bear wherever he went. Carlos, slightly older at five, had thick dark hair and adorable big brown eyes, an innocent look like butter wouldn't melt.

"Hi dudes," Dan said, grinning, "How are you doing?"

Max shrugged, his pout firmly in place as he deposited teddy on the ground beside him, dropped his rucksack from his shoulders and began rolling a toy car around the room. Carlos smiled politely, fluttering his eyelashes with embarrassment.

 

"Fine, thank you, Dan," he said, "Are we going to stay with you forever now?"

Dan grinned at Dany, their hands still firmly gripped together. He was going to be a father. They were _both_ going to be fathers. These two adorable young boys would be theirs once they'd signed some final papers.

"We have some boring grown up paper work to fill in," Christian said, "But then, yes. You can go home with Daniel and Daniil."

Carlos beamed. All he'd ever called home before were the four walls that surrounded the orphanage. There had been plenty of families that had come to visit him or take him out for the day, but none of them had ever chosen him before. And he was going to his home with Max too. Max was his best friend and now he got to be his brother as well, he couldn't imagine a better day than today.

Dan slid from his chair, kneeling down beside the two children and picking up a car to join in their game. Dany remained seated, leaning forward to talk to Christian and start getting the paperwork signed and approved.

"Shall we play one last race here?" Dan asked, lining the cars up at an imaginary start line, "First to go round the desk three times and back to teddy gets the big bedroom."

Both boys grinned excitedly, Max pushing himself up so he was free to run when Dan shouted 'go'. Dan didn't tell them that both of their bedrooms would be the same size, but he was happy to see Max excited - the youngest boy was often quite sulky and took a lot of persuading to put his stuffed toy down and join in with the games.

"Go!" Dan shouted, allowing the two boys to race ahead of him before following them around the desk.

Dany smiled, his heart warming as he watched Dan playing with the two boys that would soon be their own. He had taken a lot of persuading when Dan had first suggested adoption. He had worried that he'd end up looking after three children, with Dan and his excitability, but Dan had proved to be great with kids at their first meeting and since the two boys weren't babies, he didn't have to worry about sleepless nights and nappy changes.

He looked back at Christian, the pen poised in his hand ready to sign the agreements. Dan had to sign too, but there was no reason that Dany couldn't start without him. He clicked the end of the pen, exposing the nib and placing ink to paper, writing his name and signing and dating beside it. He was officially a parent.

"I win! I Win!" Max shouted, grabbing his teddy bear from the ground and hugging it to his chest.

Carlos looked up at Dan, a smile on his face that told Dany he'd deliberately allowed Max to win. He couldn't help but grin, glad that the two boys had such a lovely bond even before they'd become adopted brothers.

"Can we go home now?" Carlos asked quietly, picking up Max's rucksack and helping the younger boy to put it on his back.

"Soon," Dany replied, holding the pen out to his boyfriend, "Dan just needs to sign and then we're ready."

Dan took the pen from Dany's hand, leaning over the desk and writing his name and signing beside it. He placed the pen on top of the page and turned the paper around, pushing it towards Christian.

"Congratulations," Christian said, straightening the papers again and filing them into a folder marked 'The Ricciardo-Kvyat's', "I'm please to say you're free to go."

Tears filled Dan's eyes as he grinned at Dany, the pair of them gripping each others hands tightly as they bent down to talk to their newly adopted sons. He thought that once the paper work was done he would feel less nervous, but his heart was pounding as he realised the responsibility they now had.

Dan worked from home - a columnist for a local magazine, meaning he could write when he wished and had no deadlines - he'd be the one who looked after the kids when Dany was working hard hours at the bank. His partner had taken a few weeks off work whilst the boys settled into their new life, and by the time he returned to the bank, Carlos and Max would be starting school.

"You both definitely want to come with us?" Dan asked, wiping a tear from his face, "To live with us. As a family."

Carlos grinned again, wrapping his arms around Dan's neck and jumping up and down with excitement. Max clutched his teddy, cautiously glancing up at Dany who stroked his fingers through Dan's hair. Max wondered why Dan was crying. He was excited to go home, but he thought Dan was supposed to be the fun one, he didn't want Dan to cry. 

"Why you cwy?" he whispered, placing his arms on Dan's leg and holding teddy out to his adopted father, "Teddy make it better?"

Dan laughed, tears falling harder as he took Teddy from Max and hugged him to his chest, pulling both the boys in with his other arm and breathing in the scent of their hair. He loved the smell and he was looking forward to nights where he would cuddle up with the boys on the sofa to watch films and fall asleep with them in his arms. 

Carlos grinned up at Dany from the confines of Dan's cuddle, reaching his hand up for Dany to take, his small hand becoming enveloped in Dany's long fingers. Dany was stricter than Dan and he had a posh job. Carlos wasn't sure if Dany would want a hug like Dan did, so he just held his hand, waiting for Max and Dan. Max had always been a little bit scared of Dany but Carlos knew that he'd come round eventually.

"Daddy Dany, are you driving today?" Carlos said, wiggling impatiently and not noticing the startled look the Russian gave at his new name, "Your car is better than Daddy Dan's."

Dan pulled away from his cuddle with Max, mock shock on his face as he turned to Carlos.

"Cheeky monkey," he cried chasing towards Carlos who ran squealing from the room as Dan tried to tickle him.

Christian laughed, Louisa smiling happily with tears in her eyes as Dany took Max's hand and guided him from the room.

"Wave goodbye," Dany said as they walked through the door towards the car park.

Max turned around, his rucksack preventing him from seeing behind him as he waved. He wished that Dan was holding his hand. Dan would say something funny so he didn't feel sad to leave the orphanage. He clutched teddy to his chest. He smelled a little bit like Dan now and that made him smile. Teddy would look after him. Teddy would tell Dan he didn't like the dark and let him sleep with the light on like Louisa did. He hoped that Dany wouldn't be angry that he was scared of the dark.

When Dany and Max reached the car, Carlos was already buckled into the back seat, sucking a lollipop that Dan had given him. Dany lifted Max into the car, pulling his rucksack from his back as he placed him in the car seat. Dan was sat in the passenger seat in front of Max and he turned around, unwrapping another lolly and handing it to the youngest boy as Dany strapped him in.

"They'll rot your teeth," Dany said, closing the car door and walking around to the driver’s seat.

Max looked at the lolly in his hand as Dan turned back to face forwards. Lots of the people that came to visit him in the orphanage would bring sweeties and lollies with them. Had they all wanted his teeth to rot? Was that why he'd never been adopted before? Because his teeth were rotting.

He reached forward and tapped Dan lightly on the shoulder, jumping as the car engine roared to life and Dany pulled out of the car park. Dan didn't feel Max's touch and leaned forward to find a radio station that was playing something more interesting than the local news.

"Don't want rotty teef," Max said quietly, sticking the lolly to the back of Dan's seat and leaning back to watch the orphanage pass out of view.

"Argh! Watch the upholstery!" Dany cried, noticing the lolly stuck to the back of the chair and pulling it free.

He handed it to Dan, who wrapped it back in it's packaging before continuing to dance to the music. 

"Chill out Dany," Dan laughed, "The cars gonna get a lot messier than that from now on."

Dany was concentrating on the road and didn't reply to Dan's comment. Neither of them noticed Max's eyes fill with tears and his lips curl into a pout as he pulled Teddy into his chest and began to cry quietly.


	3. Summer Nights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter by bethonie

It was way past their bed times, but the boys were still out in the garden playing. Felipe hadn’t even bothered trying to get them to come inside for food, leaving sandwiches and crisps on the garden table for them to nibble at whilst he and Rob watched a film on the TV. Rob was asleep now, although he would insist he wasn’t every time Felipe woke him up. The Brazilian was lying on the sofa with his feet on Rob’s lap, having given up trying to keep him awake. He’d wake him up when the boys needed to go to bed. Rob was better at getting them to stay in bed than he was.

“I am  dead , Pea,” Frankie cried from where he was slumped against the garden fence, making it  very  obvious to everyone playing that he was dead. “Stop shooting me.”

“I’m bored,” Felipinho moaned, throwing the stick he was using as a gun down. He was tired too, but he wasn’t going to tell Frankie that. He wanted to prove he was just as big as Frankie, even if he  was  in the year below his brother. He wasn’t a baby, not like Felix, who was already falling asleep under the tree at the end of the garden. “Can we play something else?”

“What do you want to play then?” Frankie asked, standing.

Felipinho shrugged. “Want to play on the climbing frame at Dan’s. It looks really cool.”

He knew Rob  said  it wasn’t for them, but who could it be for? Sometimes Dan would give them cakes and things. It was the same thing.

Frankie looked up at the fence behind him. It was pretty tall. He didn’t even think  Felipe  would be able to look over the fence.

“Maybe we should go around and ask if we can play on it,” Frankie suggesting, going over to his youngest brother to wake him up.

“Dan isn’t in,” Felipinho said, sadly. He looked up at the fence too. Maybe they could go and get Rob and he would lift them over.

“I have an idea,” Frankie said, grinning.

Felix looked between his older brothers, no idea what was going on but knowing from experience this probably wasn’t going to end well.

 

Felipe nudged Rob awake with his foot once the credits had started to roll up the screen. It really was late, and they were supposed to be getting the boys back into a routine before school started in a couple of weeks’ time.

“Come on,” Felipe said as Rob began to stir, pressing the heel of his foot against his boyfriend’s forehead. “Sleepy head.”

“I weren’t asleep,” Rob said, pushing Felipe’s foot away.

“No, of course not,” Felipe said. “You were just resting your eyes?”

“What time is it?” Rob asked when he realised he’d missed half the film.

“Late,” Felipe said, standing and offering a hand to try to help lift Rob up from the sofa. “So you need to come and get the boys in.”

“How late?” Rob asked, suspiciously. It seemed like getting the boys back into a routine was going to be impossible, especially if he continued to tire out before the boys did. At least he had the day off tomorrow, and he could try and enforce a little routine onto them, though he didn’t know how well that was going to work. The boys had a habit of ganging up on him at the last moment and Felipe wasn’t always on his side either.

“Late enough,” Felipe said, taking hold of his boyfriend’s hand when Rob made no attempt to get up. Instead of pulling Rob up though, Rob pulled Felipe down and the Brazilian landed on his lap. “Well, this is not helping, is it?”

“How much of the film did I miss?” Rob asked, quietly.

“Thought you were not sleeping,” Felipe said with a smirk.

“DADDY!” Felix cried, rushing into the house.

Rob pushed Felipe off of him, giving his boyfriend an apologetic look when he realised what he’d done, and caught Felix as he raced into the living room in a state of panic.

“Hey, mate, what’s up?”

“Frankie has hurt himself,” Felix said, trying to lead his parents back into the garden. He squirmed out of Rob’s grip, his tiredness from before apparently forgotten, and raced back outside.

Rob turned to Felipe, but he looked just as confused as Rob did. They’d left them outside with  sticks . How bad could he have hurt himself?

When Rob and Felipe followed Felix outside, they found Frankie sat against the wheelie bin, which had been mysteriously pushed against the fence that separated their garden with their next door neighbour’s. Felipinho stood over his older brother, but jumped away as soon as he saw his parents.

“It wasn’t my fault,” Felipinho said, as Rob and Felipe noticed the fat tears that were rolling down Frankie’s face. He was holding his arm against his chest and looking very sorry for himself.

“I’m sure it wasn’t,” Felipe said as Rob lifted Frankie up and sat him on the bin. “What happened?”

“Frankie hurt himself,” Felix said, helpfully.

“Where did you hurt mate?” Rob asked, as if he needed to. He pouted, pretending to be sad and hoping to make Frankie smile a little, but the sobbing just continued.

“I… fell… over… and… hurt… my… hand,” Frankie said between sobs.

“It wasn’t my fault, Papa,” Felipinho said, reassuringly. He tugged on Felipe’s sleeve, wanting pick ups too.

“Of course,” Felipe said, not sure if he trusted that or not. He picked Felipinho up and tried to pick Felix up when he noticed how upset the youngest boy looked, only to almost topple over. On second thought, it was probably better to not be holding either of them, or else there would be even more crying children.

“Let me see,” Rob said, holding out his hand for Frankie to rest his own in. Frankie slowly pulled his hand away from his chest to show his father, trying to stop crying. Rob turned Frankie’s hand over slowly in his hand, shushing Frankie when the child cried out. “It doesn’t look broken. Might be sprained though. Better to take you to A and E, yeah?”

“What’s A and E?” Felipinho asked, quietly, peering out from where he was hiding behind his father. He got the feeling he was going to get in a lot of trouble over this.

“It’s just the hospital,” Rob said, lifting Frankie off of the bin.

“You take him,” Felipe said. “I will put these two to bed. We do not need three sleepy children in the hospital.”

“Alright,” Rob said, although he didn’t really think that plan was going to be followed. He pecked Felipe on the cheek and took Frankie through the house to the car.

“Do we…” A yawn cut off Felipinho’s sentence and he rubbed his eyes. “Do we have to go to bed?”

Felipe laughed, picking up his son and taking him inside. “Yes, you have to go to bed,” he said, sitting Felipinho on the bottom step of the stairs and taking off his shoes.  “Go upstairs and brush your teeth. Felix?”

He turned to where expected the toddler to be stood, only to find Felix was nowhere to be seen.

“Pea, where is Felix?” Felipe asked.

Felipinho shrugged, marching up the stairs. Felipe sighed, too tired for a game of hide and seek now. Maybe he was still in the garden, Felipe thought, not remembering seeing Felix come inside. The garden was empty and quiet though.

“Felix!” Felipe called, going back into the house. He was too tired for a game of hide and seek right now. “Felix, come on!”

“Papa!” Felipinho called down the stairs. “Felix isn’t brushing his teeth!”

Ah ha!

Felix’s bedroom was the smallest, at the back of the house and overlooking the garden. He was sat on his bed with his knees tucked up to his chest and his chin resting on top of them when Felipe came in. Felipinho peered into the room too, his tooth brush sticking out of his mouth, but Felipe waved him away.

“What’s the matter, Felix?” Felipe said, softly, sitting on the edge of the toddler’s bed and brushing his fingers through Felix’s hair. Felix looked up at him, tears welling in his eyes.

“Is Frankie going to be ok?” he mumbled. His brother  never  cried. Not  ever . It had scared him to see Frankie so upset and now he had to go to  hospital .

“Sure, he will be fine,” Felipe said. If it were Frankie or Felipinho he was sat with, he’d make some joke about needing to amputate his arm or something, but he knew those jokes didn’t work with Felix, only making him more upset. “The doctors will probably just give him some cream and make it better. He will be fine.”

“You’re sure?” Felix asked, looking up at him with bright blue eyes.

“Of course I am sure,” Felipe said. “Grown ups know everything, remember. Now come and brush your teeth and we can get you ready for bed.”

He held Felix’s hand as they crossed the bathroom, which Felipinho had apparently flooded brushing his teeth. Felipe prepared the toothbrush for Felix, watching him brush his teeth for a few minutes before going into Felipinho’s room. Felipinho was sat on his bed, playing with his toys with only his pyjama bottoms on.

“Come on,” Felipe said, taking the toy cars from him and putting them in the toy box. “Bed.”

“But I’m not even tired,” Felipinho moaned, fumbling with his pyjama top to try to get it the right way round.

“Of course not,” Felipe said, helping to put the top on. “But it is still bed time.”

Felipinho huffed, but did as he was told. Maybe he was just a little tired.

“Good night,” Felipe said, kissing Felipinho’s forehead and tucking the duvet up to his chin.

“Good night,” Felipinho said, his eyes already drooping again. “No wee wees in bed.”

“No wee wees in bed,” Felipe said with a sigh, flicking the light switch off.

“Or stinkies,” Felipinho said.

“Or stinkies,” Felipe said, nodding, shutting the bedroom door.

Well… that wasn’t so bad.

Felix was still sniffing in the bathroom, trying to get himself to stop crying.

“It’ll be alright,” Felipe said, taking him into the box room and picking out some pyjamas.

“Can I stay up until Daddy gets back with Frankie?” Felix said, letting Felipe dress him.

“No,” Felipe said, gently. “No, they might be a little while, and I think you are very sleepy. But they will be here when you wake up in the morning, yeah?”

“Why will it be a little while?” Felix asked. It couldn’t take that long to put some cream on his hand, could it?

“Because there will be lots of other people who need to see the doctor,” Felipe said, helping Felix into bed. “And Daddy and Frankie will have to wait in line.”

“Oh,” Felix said. That didn’t sound like much fun to him. He was glad he hadn’t fallen off of the bin when they were trying to go to Dan’s and hurt  his  hand.

“They will be back when you wake up,” Felipe said, kissing Felix’s forehead. “Good night.”

“Don’t turn out the light,” Felix reminded him, watching Felipe leave the room.

“I won’t,” Felipe said, shutting the door behind him.

Being the responsible parent wasn’t as hard as Rob liked to make it out to be at all…

 

When Rob arrived home, a sleeping Frankie in his arms, Felipe was asleep on the sofa. Rob huffed a laugh, unsurprised. They’d waited for hours at the hospital just for the doctors to say it was a bad sprain and there was nothing they could do about it. They’d agreed to put a bandage on it to stop Frankie from crying so much, but that was it.

Rob took Frankie up stairs, trying to get him changed without waking him up. He’d only fallen asleep in the car back, and Rob had been scared he might have been up all night. Thankfully, there was minimal stirring, and he snuggled up against his stuffed animals as soon as the covers were put over him. Rob checked up on the two other boys, surprised to find they were in their own beds – Felipinho having half fallen out of his bed, but still fast asleep.

After putting Felipinho back in his bed, Rob headed back down the stairs to wake Felipe. Only a few more weeks until the holidays were over. Then everything would stop being so hectic.

** He hoped.   
**


	4. Forever Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter by siriuslywinchester

Dan helped Max out of the car when they arrived at the house. Carlos let himself out, jumping lightly down onto the driveway and gaping up at building in front of them. It was bigger than either of them had imagined and the street was a quiet little cul-de-sac - a lot more peaceful than the noisy main road they'd been used to at the orphanage.

Max still clung onto Teddy with one hand as Dan carried both of the boys rucksacks towards the door. Carlos took Max's hand and the younger boy gripped it tightly, still shaking with fear, but his tears dried up as he wondered what the house would be like inside.

Dany unlocked the door and bent down, grinning at the boys as they walked up to the door.

"Welcome home," he said, taking Carlos' hand and helping them both up the step into the hallway, "Are you excited?"

Carlos grinned, trying to look in every direction at once and wondering when he'd be allowed to explore. Max still gripped onto his other hand, Teddy clutched right up to his face as he backed towards the wall, afraid that he might get told off again.

"Let's get your shoes off," Dan said, lifting Max from the ground and spinning him around before placing him on the third step on the stairs and untying his laces.

"I can take my own shoes off," Carlos said, quickly toeing his shoes off without untying them and placing them beside Dany's against the wall. Dany couldn't help but smile at how ridiculously tiny they looked next to his own, and he almost caught himself crying when Max placed his tiny little trainers on the other side.

"Now we can tickle your toes!" Dan said, grabbing Carlos around the waist and lifting him off the ground.

The five year old squealed and kicked his feet out, laughing as Dan tried to grab them. Dany reached down to tickle Max, but the youngest boy looked absolutely terrified, his eyes wide as he tried to push himself through the solid wall.

"Are you OK, Maxy?" he asked, bending down and holding out his hand, "Shall we go and pick a bedroom. You won the race, so it's your choice."

Max nodded, sucking one of Teddy's ears as he glanced over at Carlos before cautiously taking Dany's hand and trying to push himself up the first of the stairs.

 

"So which do you want?" Dan asked, pointing at the three spare rooms which were sparsely decorated. He pointed across at the closed door at the front of the house, "That is mine and Dany's room, these two," he pointed at the two middle bedrooms, "Are the two biggest. And the one at the back is tiny."

Max looked down at Teddy and turned him around so he could see the rooms. He walked towards the door that was next to the two Dan's room. There was a bed inside and a lamp next to the pillow. Teddy nodded and Max pointed into the room, a worried look in his eyes, hoping that he was really allowed to choose and he wouldn't get into trouble.

Dan beamed and looked down at Carlos.

"So which one do you want?" he said, already knowing which Carlos would choose. Nobody would choose the tiny bedroom - they hadn't even bothered to put a bed in there, so he hoped Carlos didn't.

"Could I please to have this one," Carlos said, pointing to the room next to the one Max had selected. 

Dan heard Max breathe a sigh of relief and realised that the young boy had probably picked the middle room so that he was close to everybody, right in-between his new parents and his older brother.

Dany followed Max into the room, his rucksack looped over a long finger.

"Shall we unpack?" he said, kneeling down and unzipping the bag.

It was mostly filled with clothing, a few toys lining the bottom. Max sat, leaning against the edge of the bed as Dany pulled out the clothes and tucked them into the chest of drawers on the opposite side of the room. He really wanted to pick up his train and play, but he didn't want Dany to be cross again - he was supposed to be helping unpack, but he wasn't tall enough to reach the drawers.

"Do you like your room then?" Dany asked, trying to get the youngest boy to come out of his shell a little.

Max nodded, Teddy sat on his lap as Dany folded the last of the clothing and placed it in the drawer.

"Shall we put Teddy to bed and go get a drink?" Dany said again, kneeling beside Max.

Max looked at his bear. He wanted to say no, but he didn't want Dany to be cross with him. Not when Carlos was in the other room unpacking with Dan. He wished Dan had helped him unpack, even if he had tried to tickle his toes. He nodded, kissing Teddy on the top of his head before handing him over to Dany and trying not to cry. At least if Teddy was in bed, Teddy couldn't get into trouble and he wouldn't get sent back to the orphanage.

Dany took Teddy and lifted Max up to sit on top of the bed while he tucked the bear under the duvet.

"Give him a goodnight kiss," Dany said, waiting for Max to crawl up the bed and kiss Teddy again, sitting obediently and looking up at his new parent to see what he was supposed to do next, "Right, do you like milk?"

Max nodded again as Dany picked him up and carried him out of the room, waving over Dany's shoulder as Teddy went out of view.

 

Carlos' bag was unpacked and Dan grinned at him.

"Like the room then, mate?" he asked, watching Carlos open some of the cupboards they'd not used to see what was inside.

Carlos closed the door quickly, spinning around with an innocent look in his eyes.

"It's very nice, thank you, Daddy Dan" Carlos said, smiling.

"OK, let's go find Max," Dan said, taking Carlos' hand, "Christian said Max goes to bed at six and you at seven, right?"

Carlos was tempted to lie and say that he was normally allowed to stay up later, but he knew that Christian might visit and if Dan told him then he might get into trouble and then he might get sent back to the orphanage, so he nodded.

They walked into Max's room to find it already empty, everything neatly packed away and Teddy tucked into bed. Carlos let go on Dan's hand and ran to get Teddy. He knew that Max _never_ let go of Teddy - he must have been too scared to tell Dany that.

 

Downstairs, Max was sat cross legged on the floor, a sippy cup held above his head as he drank from it. He stopped drinking as Carlos and Dan walked in, dropping the cup and racing to get Teddy and cuddle him to his chest.

Dan righted the sippy cup, placing it on the bottom ledge by the fireplace as Dany came through with a tumbler of orange juice for Carlos.

Carlos held it carefully between both hands, placing it on a mat beside Max's milk and keeping one eye on it, hoping that he didn't spill it.

"Well I think we've had a lot of excitement for one day," Dany said, slumping down onto the sofa, "Shall we all have an early night after our drinks and then we can show you what is outside tomorrow morning?"

Max nodded, rubbing his eyes with the hand that wasn't gripping tightly to Teddy. Carlos jumped up, excited - Dan had told him what was waiting for them outside and it sounded _so much_ fun.

"Oh no!" Dany suddenly shouted, jumping up and rushing over to grab Max up from the floor.

Carlos looked at the space where Max had been and saw that his glass had fallen over in his excitement and spilled orange juice on the clean carpet. His eyes filled with tears as Dany placed Max at the opposite side of the room and raced into the kitchen shouting about not touching anything. They could hear him banging cupboard doors as he tried to find cleaning products to mop up the spillage.

"I'm sorry," Carlos said quietly, standing and looking at Dan, tears falling down his cheeks, "I didn't mean to. I won't do it again, please don't take me back."

Dan almost cried, the small, adorable boy so upset over something so silly. Max was creeping backwards, tucking himself behind the wall and the sofa, hoping he would be hidden when Dany came back in and he wouldn't get the blame.

"Don't worry, Carlos," Dan said, dropping to his knees beside the five year old and wrapping his arms around him, "It's OK. Why would we ever take you back, silly."

Carlos was crying loudly now, shaking and almost choking on his breath.

"Look, it doesn't matter, it's an old carpet anyway," Dan said, grabbing his tea cup from the coffee table and up-ending it over the carpet, "See, it doesn't matter."

Carlos watched with wide eyes as the tea spread across the lounge and soaked into the carpet. Dany walked back in and stared at his boyfriend, sat in the middle of the lounge between two patches of spilled drinks. He raised his eyebrows and Dan nudged his head towards Carlos who was still very tearful.

Dany gave them both a sympathetic look, walking past Max without realising he was hidden right behind the sofa now, and began to use the kitchen roll to soak up the drinks.

"I think it's time for bed," Dan said, wiping Carlos' nose with his sleeve and taking his hand, "Where's Max?"

He looked around the room. The youngest boy was nowhere to be seen. Carlos pointed towards the sofa and Dan, still on his hands and knees crawled around to find that Max had wedged himself as far between the wall and sofa as he could, sucking his thumb with sleepy eyes.

"He's scared of Dany," Carlos whispered into Dan's ear, though not so quietly that Dany didn't hear it, "He's hiding."

"Scared of that muppet," Dan grinned, reaching a hand behind the sofa and rubbing Max's tiny fingers as the two year old took it and began to struggle out of his hiding place, "Dany's like a little rabbit. All fluffy and cute and wouldn't hurt a fly. Or a little boy, either."

"Why is called Dan E?" Max said, his eyes almost drooping closed as Dan picked him up, ready to carry him to bed, "Why you no have letter, too?"

Dan laughed, wondering if Max thought the E stood for 'Evil' and that was why he was so scared. He kissed the little boys forehead as Carlos followed him up the stairs, leaving Dany to mop up the mess they'd made.

"It's Dany, all one word, no letter," Dan explained, watching Carlos to make sure he didn't fall, "It's how you tell us apart, otherwise we'd both just be Dan, wouldn't we?"

Max nodded, though his face showed that he didn't really understand what Dan had just said. He wasn't really sure how to explain it any other way - nobody have ever asked before.

 

It was almost midnight when Dan headed to bed. Dany was already asleep, snoring loudly as he climbed the stairs and peaked into Carlos room. The five year old was fast asleep, a smile on his face as he clutched the duvet underneath his chin.

He closed the door quietly and tiptoed to Max's room, surprised to find the light by the bedside had been turned on and Max was sat up, leaning against the headboard and crying onto Teddy's head.

"Maxy," Dan said, rushing over and wrapping the small boy in his arms, "What's wrong?"

"Dark and quiet and scawy," Max sobbed, hiccuping loudly in Dan's ear.

"Would you like to come and sleep in our bed?" Dan said, "With me and Dany?"

Max nodded, tears dripping from his chin.

Dan scooped him up, turning out the bedside lamp and carrying him into the master bedroom. Dany had left Dan's beside lamp on and by the time he'd walked around the bed and placed the two year old next to Dany to sleep between them, Max was asleep, Teddy clutched in his arm and his thumb between his lips


	5. The Rabbit Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter by bethonie

“Daddy?”

Rob screwed his eyes shut, pretending he hadn’t heard the stage whisper, but then the patting started, a small chubby hand patting impatiently on his face.

“Daddy?” Felix “whispered” again.

“What?” Rob moaned, not bothering to open his eyes. He didn’t even want to know what the time was. It was his day off, and they didn’t happen very often. He just wanted to have a lie in.

“There’s a burger downstairs,” Felix said.

Rob frowned and cracked open an eye. Felix looked back at him with fear filled eyes. The alarm clock on the bedside table read quarter past six, not that early. But not as late as Rob would prefer to be up either.

“A what?”

“A burger,” Felix said. “I hear-did it. It’s going to take everything.”

“You mean a burglar?” Rob asked, sitting up a little. He was about to tell Felix to go back to bed and put a film on when he heard the sound of a chair scrapping against the kitchen floor downstairs.

“No, a _burger_ ,” Felix insisted, taking his father’s hand and trying to pull him up. Rob didn’t bother to correct him again, turning to wake Felipe, only to find his boyfriend missing from the bed. Rob rolled his eyes.

“It’s not a burger or a burglar, Felix,” he said, taking Felix’s hand and letting him pull him down the stairs.

 

“Does it hurt?” Felipe asked. Frankie was sat on the kitchen counter whilst Felipe made him a bowl of cereal. The bandage was still wrapped tightly around his arm and Frankie fiddled with the end of it

He nodded. “A little bit.”

“Must be very brave,” Felipe said, sprinkling a generous helping of sugar on top.

Frankie was always the first one up in the morning and, whilst he did just play in his room whilst he waited for the rest of the family to wake up, Felipe hadn’t wanted him to wake Rob up. He knew how hard his boyfriend worked, and he wanted Rob to enjoy his day off. He’d decided to take Frankie down the stairs when he spotted their eldest boy out of bed.

“That’s what Daddy said,” Frankie said, hopping off of the counter and jumping instead onto the chair at the kitchen table.

Felipe grinned and ruffled Frankie’s hair before going to make himself some coffee. At the start of the summer, he’d hoped he might be able to introduce the children to the wonderful art of having a lie in. It hadn’t worked out, but he didn’t really mind too much. They were low maintenance children, and he was sure they’d be out in the garden on some fantasy adventure all afternoon.

“Felipe?” Frankie asked slowly, just as the kettle boiled.

“Yes,” Felipe said, half an idea what the next question was going to be. He didn’t turn around, making himself busy in making the coffee.

“Because I was such a brave boy, can I have a present?” Frankie asked.

“What kind of present?” Felipe asked, a small smile on his face.

“I don’t know,” Frankie said, pushing cereal around the bowl with his good hand. “Maybe a rabbit.”

“We aren’t getting a rabbit Frankie,” Felipe said, shaking his head and mixing a large glug of milk into his coffee.

“But why not?” Frankie moaned. “I’d feed it, and Pea could clean out the cage. We’d really look after it.”

“But rabbits are expensive,” Felipe said. “And you would not look after it. You would look after it for maybe a week, and then I would be the one looking after it.”

“Please?” Frankie begged.

“Maybe when you are older,” Felipe said.

“See, it’s not a burger,” Rob said as he opened the kitchen door, leading Felix inside. Felix peaked out from behind his father’s legs before a small smile appeared on his face. It wasn’t a burger. That was a good thing.

“What did you do to your hand?” he asked, cocking his head and looking at the bandage around Frankie’s wrist.

“I sprayed it,” Frankie said.

“Sprained,” Felipe corrected him.

“Oh,” Felix said, coming and sitting down beside his brother and looking expectantly up at Felipe for his breakfast. Felipe waited a couple of moments for Felix to say something, then rolled his eyes, putting his coffee down to go and make another bowl of cereal.

“You can go back to bed if you want to,” Felipe said to Rob, a little annoyed that he’d been woken up. They didn’t really get to do much for one another with three little monsters to look after. Letting Rob have a lie in was one of the few things Felipe could do for him at the moment.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Rob said, pecking Felipe on the cheek before moving to make his own coffee. “I think we need to buy something to put on the edge of Pea’s bed.”

“Is he hanging out of bed again?” Felipe asked, rolling his eyes. They could buy him a king size bed and he’d still end up hanging out of it. Felipe didn’t like to imagine _what_ he got up to in bed, but it must have involved a lot of wriggling.

“He was when I got back last night,” Rob said. “I didn’t check this morning.”

“Daddy?” Frankie said. “Because I was such a brave boy…”

“You’re not getting a rabbit,” Rob said.

There was a thump from upstairs and all four of them looked at the ceiling.

“I guess he was hanging out of bed again,” Rob muttered.

 

The boys had their peddle cars out, presents from the Christmas before from their mothers. They were looking a bit worse for wear as the summer drew to a close, many days spent racing around the garden or playing some kind of demolition derby (at one point Felipe had had to stop Frankie attempting to jump over his youngest brother in his peddle car, much to all three boys’ disappointment) but the boys still loved them, and were happy enough playing whilst Felipe and Rob sat closer to the house, reading magazines and pretending to supervise.

“They are not going to give up about this rabbit,” Felipe muttered out of the corner of his mouth, not wanting the boys to hear him.

“I know,” Rob said, glancing up to check they hadn’t, but the intense race was taking up all their attention.

They’d thought a couple of weeks into the summer holiday would be enough time for the rabbit obsession to subside, but it hadn’t worked. And the trip to the petting zoo had only made the desperate need for a rabbit even worse, which they should have realised.

“What are we going to do?” Felipe asked. He knew getting a rabbit was definitely out of the question. They couldn’t _afford_ a rabbit, let alone all the time it would take the look after.

“I have a plan,” Rob said, quietly. He watched the boys play, trying to make sure they didn’t hear anything. It was a good plan, he thought, and the only one he could think of that would get this rabbit thing out of the boys’ heads.

“And?” Felipe asked.

“I have a friend who has a rabbit,” Rob murmured, keeping his eyes on the boys. “I think he might let us borrow it. If we give it to the boys, then have it “run away” in the night, maybe they’ll think rabbits don’t want to live with them.”

“That is a stupid idea,” Felipe said, flicking through his magazine. It sounded like a waste of time to him.

“Well, what ideas do you have?” Rob asked, annoyed. He couldn’t be the brains _and_ the looks in the relationship, could he?

Felipe was quiet, and gave a little shrug. He didn’t have one, besides hoping that the boys all forgot about the rabbit by the time Christmas came along and one of them decided to ask their mother for one.

“I’ll speak to my friend,” Rob said. “It’ll work. Trust me.”

“I win!” Felipinho cheered as the car came across the imaginary finish line.

“Well that’s not fair,” Frankie complained. He was having to steer with one hand, not wanting to make his sprayed hand hurt any more than it did the day before.

“Yeah it is,” Felipinho said. “Not my fault you fell off the bin.”

“You wanted to go over to Dan’s house to plan,” Frankie pointed out.

“You said we should climb on the bin,” Felipinho said, stepping away from his car.

“One more lap!” Felix cried, whizzing past his older brothers and hurrying around the garden for a fourth time. Felipinho and Frankie changed the rules when they were racing all the time, so why couldn’t he? He was already half way around the garden again by the time his brothers started peddling.

“You really think this stupid plan could work?” Felipe asked, glancing over at his boyfriend. It sounded to him like a sure way of getting them even more attached to the idea of a rabbit.

“Of course it will,” Rob said. “When am I ever wrong?”

 


	6. Garden Toys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter by siriuslywinchester

When Max awoke the next morning he was still clutching Teddy to his chest. He rolled onto his back, sleepily rubbing his eyes and trying to remember where he was - this wasn't the orphanage. He jumped as Dany snored loudly by his ear, remembering that he had a forever home now and that Dan had let him sleep in their bed. Dan wasn't in bed with them now though, and Max shuffled onto his side of the bed, hoping that Dany wouldn't wake up and be cross with him. 

Dany was laid on his side, his head at an odd angle as his mouth hung wide open. His snores shook the whole bed and Max almost giggled, stuffing Teddy's ear into his mouth at the last moment to stop himself. Carlos had snored at the orphanage but it wasn't this loud and sometimes he'd talked about ice cream in his sleep - he didn't think Dany would talk about ice cream.

Max crawled back towards Dany slowly, staring into his mouth and jumping again when another snore broke the silence in the bedroom. Dany had _really_ big front teeth. Max remembered what Dan had said the night before _'Dany's like a rabbit...'_. Dan was right - maybe Dany _was_ a rabbit.

The bedroom door opened and jolted Max from his thoughts. His eyes lit up as Carlos and Dan entered the room, each holding a tray with orange juice and a pile of toast.

"Is he still asleep?" Dan asked, grinning at Max as he placed the tray on the bedside table and lifted Carlos onto the bed. 

The two young boys snuggled into the middle of the duvet as Dan climbed in after them, leaning over them both and kissing Dany on the nose. The Russian smiled, reaching an arm over and cuddling Max into his chest, kissing him on the forehead in his sleep, not realising it wasn't Dan that he had hold of.

Max turned to face Carlos and Dan, wide eyed as he was gripped in Dany's arm. Carlos had stuffed his fist into his mouth trying not to giggle loudly and Dan had a huge grin on his face, but put a finger to his lips and winked at the toddler.

"Are you cheating on me, Daniil Kvyat?" he said in a faux-offended voice.

Dany's eyes snapped open and he looked up at Dan before turning his eyes down to see that he had his arms wrapped around little Max. He jumped backwards, his face a mask of shock as he let go of the toddler and fell with a loud thud from the bed onto the floor below.

Carlos couldn't contain himself, laughing out loud in a high pitched giggle. Even Dan was crying with laughter. Max's face split into a nervous grin as he glanced at Dan, before crawling to the edge of the bed and looking over at Dany sprawled half naked on the floor rubbing his head. He grinned up at the child and Max finally laughed, making Dan's heart soar.

"Morning Maxy," Dany said, pushing himself up into a seated position and sniffing the air, "Can I smell toast?"

 

After breakfast in bed, Carlos dressed himself in his favourite outfit and helped Dan pick out some clothes for Max. Dany laughed when Max appeared in the kitchen wearing a pair of bright yellow corduroy trousers that were two inches too long and and a thick green fleece.

"Dan, it's August, not mid-winter," he said, scooping Max into his arms to take him back upstairs and change him into something more suitable for the warm summers day that was blooming outside, "I think we might have to buy you two some news clothes!"

When the boys were finally dressed appropriately and both a pale white from the amount of sun cream Dan insisted they wore, they were made to shut their eyes and take their adoptive parents hands as they were guided outside.

Dan and Dany positioned the two boys at the center of the garden, pretending they hadn't noticed that Max was peeping - his jaw already dropped and his eyes filled with excitement.

"Aaaand, open them," Dan said, a huge grin on his face as Carlos opened his eyes and the two boys squealed and hugged each other.

Before them was a garden like they'd never imagined. There was a huge climbing frame that took up the full width of the grass, with slides and monkey bars and even a little tree-house at the top. Beneath the frame was a sand pit with diggers and buckets and spades and beside that a paddling pool, filling with floats and rubber ducks.

Carlos raced for the climbing frame, Dan following him and holding his arms out in case the five year old fell. He climbed up as high as he could, peaking his head in the tree-house and discovering it already had drinks and biscuits on the table. He shuffled over to the slide and slid down on his bottom, quickly getting to his feet and running to hug Dan's legs.

"Thank you Daddy Dan," he said, clutching his arms around Dan's knees, "This is the bestest ever."

Max stared open mouthed. He watched his brother climb up and slide down, but his own feet stayed rooted to the spot. His eyes were as wide as saucers and Dany began to wonder if he stared like that at everything.

"Do you want to play in the sand pit?" Dany asked, holding out his hand.

Max shook his head, shuffling away from Dany, his eyes not moving from the climbing frame before him.

"Teddy get dirty," Max said, still sidestepping away and stumbling as the path ended and turned into a flower bed.

He landed on his bottom, his hands sinking into the warm earth as Teddy fell to the ground before him. 

Dany was about to rush over and make sure he was OK, but Max stood up quickly, brushing his hands clean and picking Teddy up, turning him around and making sure he was OK before cuddling him and swinging his whole body in both directions.

Dany smiled, if he'd have known Max would just want to spend his time with his teddy, he'd probably not have spent half the amount of money on toys as they had. The new parents hadn't shown the boys the play room yet, keeping the door locked until it was a rainy day and they'd need some indoor entertainment.

He watched as Max glanced back at the mud, a confused expression on his face as he bent forward and examined something. Max took a few small steps forward and bent down again, repeating this until he reached the fence between their garden and their next door neighbours.

Dany wandered over, not wanting to startle Max who apparently was still a little scared of him. There were footprints in the mud - Dany wasn't sure how they'd got there, but they were adult prints so it was probably one of the men who'd delivered the frame - Max had followed them right up to a tiny hole in the fence.

The toddler was peeping through, his eyes widened again as his mouth turned into a tiny 'O'.

"More boys," he said, turning to Dany and pointing his tiny index finger through the hole.

Dany craned his neck, glancing over the fence and noticing the three boys that lived next door were out in the garden playing together. Their fathers, Felipe and Rob were sat in the shade drinking and reading magazines. When he looked back down at Max, the little boy was avidly watching through the hole, his Teddy dangling limply in his hand.

Dany looked back at the climbing frame. Carlos was in the tree house and Dan was wedged in the door, too large to fit through, but happily nibbling on a biscuit that the five year old was feeding him.

"Do you want to go on the slide, Max?" Dany said, trying to get Max to pay at least _some_ interest in the expensive toy, instead of spying on their neighbours.

Max shook his head, his eye not moving from hole, following the boys in the next garden as they raced around their lawn.

"I think Teddy wants to go on the slide," Dany said, pointing at the bear.

Max turned to face Dany, his face looking concerned as he glanced down at Teddy who really did look quite sad hanging there by his leg.

Max nodded, glancing sadly back at the peephole before holding out his hand for Dany to take him to the slide. Dany lifted him out of the flowerbed and placed him at the top of the slide. The toddler placed Teddy on his lap and gripped tightly to the edges, his knuckles going white as he cautiously looked over the side at how high he was. 

"Teddy go down first?" Dany said, moving to the bottom of the slide and ducking down.

Max gulped, nodding as he gently pushed Teddy from his knee and watched his favourite toy tumble down the slide and shoot from the end, skidding across the grass and stopping in a heap at the end of the lawn. Dany laughed, bouncing on his heels.

"Now your turn," Dany grinned, looking up at the toddler and moving in front of the bottom of the slide, his arms out.

Max shook his head, still gripping to the side as tears began to fill his eyes. The two year old began to panic. He was high up and he didn't want to tumble like Teddy did.

"I'll catch you," Dany said, waggling his fingers encouragingly, "I Promise."

Max gulped as he looked down. It looked a long way. He didn't want to cry again, but it was scary. Carlos had said it would be fun to have a family and he wanted to have fun, not cry and be scared. He wanted to be a big and brave like Carlos.

He shuffled on his bottom, fingers still holding tightly onto the sides of the slide as he kept his eyes on Dany, hoping that he would keep his promise. Max slowly slid from the top of the slide and whizzed down, screaming loudly and closing his eyes.

Dany caught him.

Max opened his eyes and stared in shock for a few moments as Dany lifted him in the air and swung him around. Then his face split into a huge grin and he clapped and laughed. Dany grinned back at him and Max wrapped his arms around his adopted father's neck, happy that he caught him - maybe he wasn't so mean all the time.

"Again!" Max shouted, waving his arms towards the slide, Teddy forgotten on the grass, "Again!"


	7. Outing with Mummy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter by Formula_Tea

“And I bet mummy will take us to the coolest place to go and get lunch,” Frankie said, excitedly, making as much mess as it was possible to make whilst eating chocolate hoops. He was still only using the one hand, insisting his “sprayed” wrist still hurt too much to move, but Felipe was sure that was just so he could try and get some more sweets out of his mother.

“My mummy will bring the best present though,” Felipinho reminded him for the third time since he’d come down for breakfast.

Felipe rolled his eyes, waiting for the same argument they’d already had two times that morning to break out again. Felix sat on the kitchen counter, where Felipe had left him after he’d finished wiping the youngest boy’s face, and the two of them shared a knowing look.

“I wish you wouldn’t sit him up there,” Rob said, rushing into the kitchen and helping Felix down from the kitchen counter. “We already have one broken child. We don’t need another.”

“He was fine,” Felipe insisted with a grin, standing up on his toes.

Rob leaned down to kiss Felipe goodbye, having to go to work early again, and got groans from all three boys for it.

“Daddy, kissing is yucky,” Felix said, looking up at his parents with his arms folded.

“You’ll just have to close your eyes then, won’t you,” Felipe said, covering Felix’s eyes with his hands before kissing Rob on the cheek. “Have a good day.”

“I’ll try,” Rob promised, grinning. It was another long day, but he knew it would be worth it in the end. It had been hard to decide when to have the day off: when the kids were with their mothers so he could spend some proper time with Felipe, or when the five of them could spend time as a family. Rob had chosen the latter. There would be plenty of time to spend with Felipe when the kids were older. “And if you could try to tidy up whilst they’re away…”

“Subtle,” Felipe commented, letting go of Felix. “Love you.”

“Love you too.”

 

It sounded like a stampede when the boys ran down the stairs after they’d heard the knock at the door. Before Felipe had even made it into the hallway, the three boys were sat on the floor, trying to get their shoes on so they could head out.

Felipe stepped over them, having to shift Frankie out of the way so he could open the door. Silently preying it would be Raffaela and not Lucy, Felipe unlocked the door.

Bad luck.

Felipe got on well enough with Raffaela. He and he and his ex-wife weren’t exactly friends, but they were on speaking terms and could be civil with one another around the kids (though Felipinho had once told Felipe he’d over heard mummy calling Felipe “annoying” when she thought the boys were out of ear shot). Lucy, on the other hand… Lucy was still a little bitter over the break up of her marriage, and that bitterness was clear even to the children.

“Good morning Lucy,” Felipe said through gritted teeth, doing his best to smile and be polite.

“Felipe,” Lucy said, shortly. “Still working Rob to death, I see.”

Felipe didn’t reply. He wasn’t going to have this argument with her again.

“Come on, kids, mummy’s waiting,” he said, instead, turning to the boys. Frankie and Felipinho looked ready to go, but Felix was still struggling with his shoes. Felipe sighed and sat the youngest boy on the bottom step of the stairs. “You have them on the wrong feet, silly. Here? Is this better?”

“Fank you, Felipe,” Felix said, watching Felipe stick the Velcro on his trainers down before jumping up and head butting his adoptive father once he was finished. “Ow.”

“Thank you, Felix,” Felipe mumbled, rubbing his head before pressing a kiss to the bump on Felix’s head. “Better?”

Felix nodded, still pouting, before going outside and taking hold of his mother’s hand. Felipe kissed the tops of Frankie and Felipinho’s heads before they left too, following Lucy to the car.

“Where are we going to eat?”

“Do we have any presents?”

“What are we going to do today?”

“Calm down,” Lucy laughed. “One at a time or I can’t answer any of you.”

“MUMMY!” Felipinho cried, racing ahead of Lucy when he spotted his own mother waiting in the car.

When Lucy and Raffaela were in the country at the same time, they always tried to take the boys out altogether. It was fairer on them, knowing that Frankie and Felipinho would brag to each other about what they got up to on their days out, and neither mother wanted to see their sons upset. It was also more fun for Felipinho to have someone his own age about to play with, and Lucy knew Frankie and Felix could be a bit of a handful for only one person. It was the perfect solution.

Felipinho jumped into Raffaela’s arms, trying to hug his mother as tightly as she hugged him.

“You are getting bigger and bigger every time I see you,” Raffaela said, taking Felipinho around to the other side of the car and strapping him into the seat.

“Really?” Felipinho asked, grinning. Rob always said he would be taller than Papa soon, but that wasn’t very tall. He wanted to be very very _very_ tall. Even taller than Rob.

“Yep,” Raffaela said, kissing the end of Felipinho’s nose and making him giggle.

“Where are we going today mummy?” Felix asked as Frankie helped him into his seat.

“It’s a surprise,” Lucy said, getting groans of annoyance from all three boys. She looked over at Raffaela in the driver’s seat and grinned, knowing the boys were going to love this.

 

“THE WACKY WAREHOUSE!”

It had been Frankie who had figured it out first, but his triumphant cry soon had all three boys bouncing about on the back seats and craning their necks to try and spot the sign.

“I knew he would figure it out,” Lucy said.

“We are, aren’t we?” Frankie said. “We’re going to the Wacky Warehouse!”

“Yes,” Lucy said, grinning at the way all three boys cheered, Felix almost hitting both the boys in the face.

“I told you we would go to the bestest place,” he said, more to himself than to Felipinho or Frankie. “Thank you mummy.”

Before Lucy and Raffaela could even order drinks for the three boys, Felix and Felipinho were already in the play area, shoes and socks dumped in a pile beside where they had been standing. Raffaela rolled her eyes and picked up the shoes before following Lucy to a table where they could watch the boys play. Then they noticed Frankie hadn’t followed them.

“What’s the matter, sweetie?” Lucy asked.

“I sprayed my arm,” Frankie said, quietly. It didn’t hurt so much anymore and Felipe had managed to convince him he didn’t need to wear his bandage today, but what if playing in the giant jungle gym made his arm even worse.

“You _sprayed_ it?” Raffaela asked.

Frankie nodded, tears beginning to well in his eyes now. His brothers weren’t here now, so he could cry if he wanted to and they didn’t need to find out.

“I fell over and needed to go to the hospital with Daddy,” he explained, holding out his hand to show his mother. “The doctors said I sprayed it and they gave me a bandage to make it better.”

“ _Sprained_ it?” Lucy said, realising what Frankie was talking about. “Is that what happened?”

Frankie sniffed and nodded. That’s what he had said, wasn’t it?

“Does it hurt now?” Lucy asked.

Frankie shook his head. It hadn’t hurt much of yesterday either. That’s why Felipe said he didn’t have to put his bandage back on after he had a bath the day before, and now he didn’t have to wear it today either.

“Right then,” Lucy said. “You can go off and play, but be careful, yeah. We don’t want my little soldier with anymore sprained body parts, do we?”

Frankie nodded and wiped his eyes on the back of his hands. He didn’t want Felipinho or Felix to see him crying. He was the biggest, after all.

“If it hurts again, you come and tell mummy, yeah?” Lucy said, getting another nod from Frankie. She smiled and Frankie tried to smile back, before turning and, _carefully_ , following his brothers into the jungle gym.

Being careful didn’t last long…

Felix was struggling to climb up the foam padded ledges his brothers had used to get to the top of the slide, jumping to try to get a good hold on something but landing with the top half of his body on the ledge whilst his legs kicked to try and push himself up.

“Frankie?”

“I bet I can go down the slide faster than you can,” Frankie said, folding his arms and looking down at Felipinho. He’d stopped being careful about his sprayed arm somewhere between the punching bags and the ball pool.

“Pea?” Felix called.

“I bet I can,” Felipinho said, trying to look cross at Frankie without folding his arms, because he wasn’t a copy cat.

“Frankie can you help me?” Felix asked.

“I’m bigger, so I will be faster,” Frankie declared.

“Please Pea?”

“Yeah, bigger things fall faster,” Felipinho muttered with a grin.

“Felix, time us going down the slide,” Frankie demanded. They could see the ball pool they landed in from the top of the slide. “Count the seconds, like in running races.”

Frankie and Felipinho both turned to Felix, who was still trying to kick himself up onto the ledge. They both rushed over to help him up onto the ledge. Felix grinned, looking down through the cord caging and waving at his mummy waiting in the bar area.

“Felix, are you watching?” Frankie asked, about to get in the slide. “You have to count.”

“Alright,” Felix said, waiting for his eldest brother to disappear down the slide before he started counting. Frankie landed with a crash in the ball pool before Felix could even get to three and before Felix knew it, Felipinho had followed him down, landing on top of Frankie.

“OW PEA!” Frankie cried, trying to jump away from him and tripping over the balls. “YOU HURT MY SPRAYED ARM!”

His mother was already rushing over and Frankie waded out of the ball pool as Felix came down the slide, the race already forgotten.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” Felipinho said, quickly, climbing out after Frankie.

“You should have been a bit more careful, Felipinho,” Lucy said, sternly, taking Frankie and sitting him on the table so she could look at his arm.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Raffaela said, even though they weren’t to have any idea Frankie had any injury. “Maybe we should leave. Find something else to do.”

“We can’t go!” Felix cried, stumbling after them. “We only just got here.”

“I don’t want to go,” Frankie said, quickly. He didn’t want to ruin the fun. He just wanted special hugs from mummy. “It doesn’t hurt that much.”

“Oh,” Lucy said, knowingly. “Well, do you want to decide what you’re going to eat and then you can go and play again. But _carefully_ this time.”

 

The house was strangely quiet and strangely tidy when Rob got back from work. If it weren’t for the lack of mess, he would have been scared for another ambush, but the boys couldn’t be home and it be that tidy.

Rob found Felipe lying on the sofa, reading. Once he spotted Rob watching him, a smug smirk broke onto the house.

“You did not think it would be this tidy, did you?” he said, proudly.

Rob had to admit he hadn’t thought it would be this tidy, mostly because Felipe made as much as a mess as the boys most days. His hint about tidying up had been meant as a hopeful joke, not really expecting Felipe to actually do so. It was a nice surprise though.

“Where are the boys?” he asked, picking Felipe’s feet up so he could sit down. Normally they were back by the time he got back from work.

Felipe’s hand froze midway through turning the page and he looked up from the book. “Knew there was something else I was supposed to do today…”

“You _forgot_ about them?”

“No, stupid,” Felipe said, a grin breaking onto his face again. “Raffaela and Lucy asked if they could have them another hour. Should be home any minute now.”

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door.

“You can deal with them this time,” Felipe said, making precisely zero effort to get up. “Already had enough of Lucy’s _glares_ this morning.”

Rob huffed and, moving Felipe’s feet off of him again, got up. He didn’t understand what Felipe had against Lucy. He got on with her well enough and couldn’t see what the problem could possibly do.

“Daddy!” Felix cried as soon as the door was opened, rushing inside. He still had tomato sauce smeared all over his face, highlighting his grin perfectly, and three plastic bags of toys in his hands. Presents, no doubt. Their mothers spoilt them rotten every visit. It had annoyed Rob at first, but then he’d gotten used to it.

Frankie and Felipinho followed him in, in the middle of a sword fight to the death, so there was no greeting. Rob was about to close the door behind them when he realised Lucy was still stood there.

“Is something wrong?” Rob asked, not used to a conversation on the doorstep.

“Frankie said he sprained his arm,” Lucy said.

“Yeah,” Rob said. “They were in the back garden.”

“Do you know how much I worry about them?” Lucy cut in. “Every day. It hurts like hell I have to work and I can’t see them every day. I worry enough as it is without this.”

“It was an accident, Lucy,” Rob said. “There’s nothing to worry about. The boys are fine. Look at them.”

“Next time could you just tell us when they get hurt,” Lucy said.

“When you’re in Japan there’s not a lot you can do Lucy,” Rob pointed out.

“Rob.”

“Alright,” Rob insisted. “We will tell you.”

“Good,” Lucy said. “Well… I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye.”

“Look what we got, Felipe!” Felix said, toddling into the living room and bouncing onto Felipe’s chest. “Mummy and Raffa bought us toys for the rabbit!”

 


	8. Shopping Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter by siriuslywinchester

The children had no clean clothes in the house. Dan and Dany hadn't realised just how quickly childrens clothing got dirty, and having spent most of the past week playing in the back garden, the few pieces they had bought with them from the orphanage were covered in grass stains and mud.

"I think we need to go shopping," Dan announced, rubbing a mark on a pair of Max's jeans and hoping it didn't look _too_ mucky when he was wearing them, "And we need to buy Carlos' school uniform."

"I can't believe they'll both be at school next week," Dany said sadly, "And I have to go back to work."

He unfolded the push chair. It was their first trip out as a family, having spent most of the time so far exploring the house and getting to know what the children did and didn't like. Carlos was currently eating breakfast in the tree house - his new favourite place - and Max was sucking a piece of toast whilst peering through the peep hole in the fence in just his underwear. The Massa-Smedley children were probably still in bed, but Max seemed to like looking through the hole regardless.

"Come on, Kids," Dany called, "We're going out!"

Carlos was first to reach the kitchen, sliding down the slide and racing into the room. Max waddled in shortly after and Dan scooped him up and pulled his trousers on, placing him (and Teddy) in the push chair and lowering the plastic barrier over him.

Dany unlocked the front door, helping Carlos down the step and Dan carried the push chair onto the driveway. The new parents told Carlos to hold onto the side of the chair and Dan started down the path while Dany locked up.

Max spun in the chair, pushing himself onto his knees and grabbing Dan's hands with his fingers.

"Stop," he said, clawing at Dan's fingers as his bottom lip pouted out, "Dan E push."

Dan let Max pull his fingers from the handle of the push chair and waited for Dany to catch up.

"Dan E push," Max repeated, pointing as the other man caught up with them.

"Why not me?" Dan asked, sadly.

He'd been looking forward to taking the push chair out. He had visions of himself running up and down the streets, Max and Carlos both sat in the chair laughing as he pretended to be a race car.

"Dan E," Max whined, his eyes starting to fill with tears.

Dany took the chair, smiling at Max and Dan began walking beside them looking slightly put out. Max was supposed to be scared of Dany, why were they suddenly best friends?

Dan felt some small fingers wrap around his own, pulling him from his thoughts. He glanced down and saw that Carlos had let go of the push chair and was grinning up at him, holding tightly to his fingers as they walked along.

"You can hold my hand, Daddy Dan," he said, his eyes glittering with happiness, "When I go to school do I have to wear a tie like Daddy Dany does?"

"Nah mate," Dan replied, thankful he didn't have to teach the six year old to tie a tie, "Just a t-shirt and jumper. You'll still look as smart as Dany though."

Dan ruffled the boys fluffy brown hair and swung his arm, Carlos giggling on the end of it. The boy lifted his feet off the air and Dan felt like his shoulder pulled out of the socket, but he swung him anyway, delighting in the high pitched giggles he was rewarded with.

He glanced across at Max and was surprised to find that the youngest boy was fast asleep. Teddy was snuggled into his chest - as always - and he was sucking at his thumb. The toddler looked remarkably peaceful, and despite still feeling slightly jealous, he was glad that Max had warmed to his partner.

"You know we're going to have to stop him from sleeping in our bed at some point," Dany said, noticing Dan's glance.

Max had been sleeping in their room each night. The toddler would be awake crying right up until Dan went to bed if he wasn't allowed to sleep in their bed. They'd tried to ask him what was wrong, but as soon as he was tucked into their bed he'd be out like a light.

"How?" Dan replied, "He just doesn't like being in his room alone."

"Max is scared of the dark," Carlos said quietly, still clinging to Dan's fingers, "Doesn't like the monsters. I don't mind the monsters though. They don't hurt me."

Dany slapped his forehead, realising that this was completely obvious.

"How did we not figure that out?" he said, "We'll buy him a night light. In fact," Dany pointed over to the Argos store that was just down the street, "I'll go there, you go to the Uniform shop and we'll meet up later."

Dan and Carlos continued down the road, hand in hand to the shop which sold school uniforms for all of the schools in the local area. As they entered the shop, a little bell rang and an old man rushed over to greet them, smiling down at Carlos and speaking directly to the six year old.

"Morning Little Sir, and what school will you be going to?" he asked, grinning as he held out a tape measure to check Carlos' height and width.

Carlos' eyes widened and he shrugged, looking up at Dan, who realised he hadn't actually told the child which school he'd be attending. The orphans had been schooled at the orphanage, this would be Carlos' first time at a public school.

"William Bulls Primary," Dan said, "We need full uniform, a book bag and PE kit, please."

"Excellent choice, excellent choice," the old man said, holding out his hand for Carlos, "Well if you follow me little Sir, we'll get you all decked out."

Dan nodded for Carlos to go with the old man and waited in a chair as he disappeared into a changing room to try on his new school uniform.

A few minutes later, Carlos reappeared, beaming from ear to ear. He was dressed in neatly pressed black trousers, a pair of shining black shoes, a white polo shirt and a bottle green jumper with the school’s logo on the breast.

"Can I wear it now," Carlos asked, running up to Dan and placing his hands on his adopted father's knees.

Dan laughed, imagining how, in a few years time, he'd be wrestling with the kid to get him to wear the uniform.

"I think we should save it for school, don't you?" he said, "Anyway you need to try on your PE kit."

Carlos turned around and disappeared back into the changing room, the old man following with a green sports vest, some blue shorts and a pair of trainers. The six year old soon reappeared, not looking quite as excited this time, but trying to look at himself in the mirror.

"Very sporty," Dan said, "Do you like them?"

Carlos nodded, smiling politely at Dan.

"Am I allowed them?" he asked quietly.

"Of course!" Dan grinned, "You need them for school. Go get changed again and we'll buy them and then go shopping for some other clothes, yea?"

Carlos grinned again, rushing into the changing room and returning with the clothes folded neatly and placed on top of his arms. He followed the old man to the till and before long they were bagged and heading back out onto the busy shopping street.

"Right," Dan looked into his wallet, "Dany gave me fifty pounds to spend on clothes for you and Max so lets go to Matalan and see how much we can buy."

Carlos grinned, imagining all the sweeties he could buy for fifty pound. He wondered if Dan would let him buy _some_ sweeties at least. It would be nice if he did.

The Matalan store was huge and Dan decided it would be easier to get a trolley than a basket, so Carlos soon found himself standing inside the metal container being pushed around by Dan - who, having been denied his fun by Max, decided this was just as good.

"Right, point out things that you think you and Max will like," Dan said, heading down the kids aisle.

Carlos pointed at a pink, frilly tutu.

"Max will like that," Carlos said, "There was one at the orphalidge and he always cried when Christian made him take it off."

Dan grinned. He could see Max wearing the pink tutu and was very tempted to buy it, but he could also imagine the look of horror on Dany's face so he decided against it.

"What about these?" Dan said, pointing at some t-shirt and jean sets with various disney characters on.

"LIGHTNING MCQUEEN!" Carlos shouted, almost jumping out of the trolley.

The six year old reached forward and plucked at a t-shirt. It was red with a picture of a car on the front. Dan pulled out an age six and an age two version and placed them in the trolley.

"And Max likes Frozen," Carlos said, pointing out an Olaf onesie, "I prefer toy story though."

Dan added a toddlers Olaf onesie and a larger Buzz Lightyear onesie to the trolley before guiding it over to an area that had mix and match sets. He rummaged through the pile, calculating that he could buy ten t-shirts and five pairs of trousers for each child with the leftover cash and added them to the trolley.

"I think that's everything," Dan said, glancing down at Carlos, "That's all the money gone, anyway! What do you think?"

Carlos nodded and Dan noticed that he looked sad.

"What's up little fella?" he asked.

"Nothing," Carlos said, forcing a smile, "Thank you, Daddy Dan."

Dan pushed the trolley up to the checkout and handed the assistant the goods. He could tell that Carlos was lying, but what could he possibly be sad about? He hadn't asked for anything that he wasn't allowed.

"Are you sure?" Dan pressed, "You look sad."

Dan pouted to demonstrate how sad Carlos looked, but was interrupted both by his phone ringing and the cashier asking for the money. He handed the cash over whilst answering the call.

"Hey Dany," he said, "You got one? Great. We're in Matalan. Sure, we can meet there. Is Max still asleep? Bless him. See you in a bit."

Dan smiled as he put his phone back in his pocket, taking the carrier bag from the cashier and lifting Carlos out of the trolley. He carried the six year old out of the shop before turning down the street.

"How do you fancy a McDonalds for dinner?" Dan asked, watching as Carlos' trademark grin began to reappear on his face, "And then maybe we'll have just enough pennies for some sweeties for the walk back home."

Carlos face lit up with excitement. McDonalds _and_ sweeties? This was the best day ever.


	9. Back To School

“It’s too big.”

Felipinho stood in his new school uniform whilst his father took pictures to post online. It wasn’t really _new_. The jumper had been Frankie’s last year, but a growth spurt in the middle of the year meant he was too big for it now. The sleeves fell down over Felipinho’s hands and he pouted up at Felipe.

“Why can’t I have a new jumper like Frankie did?”

“Because you do not need a new jumper,” Felipe said, putting his phone away. He tucked the cuffs of Felipinho’s jumper up until his fingers could be seen.

“Ooh, very smart,” Rob cooed as he came into the room. “Has Papa taken pictures?”

“Lots and lots and lots,” Felipinho groaned.

“Do I look smart, Daddy?” Felix asked. He was wearing his favourite top. Now he was almost a big boy like his brothers. He was going to be one of the oldest at nursery and he wanted to show everyone how grown up he was.

“The smartest kid in nursery,” Rob said, ignoring the fresh chocolate milk stain. “Where’s Frankie?”

“Brushing his teeth,” Felipe said.

Frankie had been telling Felipinho all about big school. It was very different to nursery, because nursery was for babies and he was a big boy now. Frankie said they had to have special spots on the carpet to sit on, and a boring book they had to read. He’d have a new teacher, who gave out red cards to naughty children. Felipinho was a little worried about that. He wasn’t _naughty_ , but _sometimes_ he did things he _probably_ shouldn’t have been doing, like pulling funny faces during story time. He didn’t want to get a red card though.

“Frankie!” Rob called up the stairs. “Come down and say goodbye before I go to work.”

Felipe would be taking the boys to school alone. He was still working out how he could be in three places at once, but he was sure he’d manage. Then it would be a couple of hours of long awaited peace and quiet before he started work.

Frankie came downstairs with toothpaste down the front of his bottle green jumper. Felipe rolled his eyes, taking a tissue and wiping the spit. He just wanted one day with the boys looking relatively neat.

“Daddy?” Frankie said, slowly, as his father kissed his forehead.

“If this is about rabbits, the answer is no,” Rob said.

The look on Frankie’s face suggested his plan had been foiled. Rob couldn’t believe the boys had kept up the rabbit obsession all summer. He and Felipe had agreed to go ahead with the plan that evening, though Felipe was still unsure about it.

“I’ll see you later,” Rob said, kissing Felipinho and Felix’s foreheads. “Be good.”

“We will,” the boys chorused, but Rob knew better than to believe that.

 

Felipinho was a little settled by some of the familiar faces on the playground. Some of his friends from nursery would be starting big school today too, and Frankie was only in the next classroom, meaning the boys shared a cloak room. As much as Frankie could be annoying sometimes, it was comforting to know his brother was there.

Felipe was a little relieved to see Felipinho skip off with some friends he’d spotted once they arrived on the playground. He knew he’d been through all this before with Frankie the previous year, and he loved all the boys equally, but he was more nervous this year than he had been the year before. What if there were problems? School meant routine and Felipinho wouldn’t be able to be pulled out of that whenever he felt like it. What if he didn’t settle in as easily as he had done at nursery? What if-?

“Felipe?” Felix said, tugging on Felipe’s coat.

“Yeah?”

“It’s Mr Kimmi-hat,” Felix said, pointing across the playground to the second year classroom door.

Their neighbour was stood with a little boy beside the classroom door. Felipe frowned. He’d never seen the little boy before and, even though he wasn’t exactly close to his neighbour, he thought he would have heard about the little boy at some point. He was about to go over to play busy body when Felipinho rushed over, grinning.

“We have to go in now, Papa,” he announced, taking his book bag back from where he’d left it with Felix.

“Oh,” Felipe said. He couldn’t identify the feeling in his stomach, but he didn’t like it. He placed a hand on Felipinho’s shoulder, trying to smile but only managing a grimace.

“Papa, I have to _go_ ,” Felipinho said. He didn’t want to be last in on his first day of big school.

“I know,” Felipe said, his voice catching in his throat. “You be a good boy, ok? And have a good day.”

“I will,” Felipinho groaned, wondering why his father was being so silly. It was probably a grown up thing.

“See you later,” Felipe said, letting go of Felipinho’s shoulder

Felipinho beamed back at him, his fear from the morning forgotten, before skipping inside. Felipe watched him go, biting his bottom lip in an attempt to stop it wobbling.

“Felipe?” Felix asked, a little confused. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Felipe said, shaking himself a little. It would be fine. “Come on, let’s get you to nursery.”

 

Felipinho stood in the cloak room, trying to figure out what he was supposed to be doing. The room was packed and noisy, parents joining the children who needed some extra comfort. Felipinho’s lip began to wobble and he wished Papa was here to help him, but he was a big boy now and Felix needed more help.

“Here,” Frankie placed a hand on Felipinho’s shoulder, making his little brother jump. He smiled reassuringly and Felipinho smiled weakly back. “You have a peg with your name on it. Do you want me to help you find it?”

Felipinho looked around the room at all the other children finding their names and nodded. If he couldn’t have his papa here, he’d have to make do with his brother.

“Your name begins with an F like mine,” Frankie said. “We’ll find it.”

 

Big school was not as scary as Frankie said it was, Felipinho thought at lunchtime. His teacher was nice and had even let him choose a special spot on the carpet. Frankie had been fibbing about how scary big school was, and Papa and Rob said fibbing was wrong, but he’d helped when Felipinho hadn’t know what to do, so Felipinho decided he wasn’t going to tell anyone.

Felipe was stood on the middle playground at lunch, watching the older children play tig. He was _not_ ashamed as his role as a lunchtime supervisor, but he was yet to tell Lucy about his job when she was making snide comments about his lack of one. It would only make her worse, he thought, and he was happier letting her believe whatever she wanted to believe.

Felipinho stopped at the edge of the lower playground, grinning and waving when his father looked over. Felipe beamed back when he spotted Felipinho, his sleeves having fallen back over his hands again. He’d half been expecting a phone call from the school asking him to come in. Or maybe he had been… _hoping_ for it. But there had been nothing. His little boy had grown up.

“Pea!” Frankie called, waving for his brother to come over to him and his friends.

Felipinho gave his father one last wave before heading over.

 

It was three in the afternoon and Felipe had expected _something_ by this point, but everything had been fine. He’d called Rob after his shift at the school had finished, when Rob had told him to stop worrying so much. Felipe had called him a hypocrite after how he’d reacted to Frankie’s first day at school, and Rob had laughed at that.

Felipe shifted from foot to foot as he waited for Frankie and Felipinho’s classes to be let out.

Frankie’s class were the first out of the building, not that Felipe noticed until his step son was offering him his lunch box to hold.

“Did you have a good day?” Felipe asked. Frankie had his jumper around his waist and grass stains on his shirt.

Frankie nodded. “We played football at lunch and had carrots at snack time.”

“Carrots?” Felipe asked. “I did not even think you liked carrots.

“I do!” Frankie insisted. “If we had a rabbit I promise I would eat all my carrots and not give any to the rabbit.”

He’d talked to Felipinho and some of his friends at lunch, trying to come up with a way to convince his parents to get them a rabbit. His friend had suggested that maybe his Daddy and Felipe were scared they wouldn’t eat any of their carrots if they had a rabbit, and that had seemed like a good idea to Frankie.

Felipe rolled his eyes. He wasn’t in any way confident about Rob’s plan, and had been hoping going back to school might distract them enough so that they didn’t have to go ahead with it, but it didn’t look like that had happened.

“Felipe?” Frankie asked, uncertainly. His step father hadn’t said _no_. That was an improvement.

“Huh?”

“ _Please_ can we have a rabbit?” Frankie asked.

“We will talk about it later,” Felipe said, returning his attention to the door where Felipinho’s teacher was not stood.

Frankie beamed. That _definitely_ meant yes.

Felipinho was grinning when he came out of the classroom. Frankie gave his brother a thumbs up and Felipinho’s grin widened. They were going to get a rabbit!

Felipe didn’t really understand why his heart jerked when he saw Felipinho’s smile. He’d enjoyed his day and surely that was a good thing. It had to be a good thing. Then why did he feel so… upset?

“Papa!” Felipinho called. “Are we really getting a rabbit?”

“What?”

“What colour is it?” Felipinho asked, coming to a stop in front of his father and offering him his lunchbox to carry. “Is it a fluffy white one like Felix wants?”

“We will talk about it later,” Felipe insisted. How on earth did Felipinho come to _that_ conclusion? “Did you have a good day?”

Felipinho shrugged, still thinking about the rabbit. “It was ok, I suppose.”

“Oh, it must have been very exciting then,” Felipe laughed, trying to stop being so upset that his little boy had grown up.

 

The boys were in the back garden when Rob arrived home, blanket covered cage in his arms. They’d been a little disappointed when there hadn’t been a rabbit waiting for them when they got back, a couple of tears appearing in Felix’s eyes, but Frankie had managed to convince him it was just because their parents hadn’t had time to get one yet.

Felipe shut the back door when he heard the front door close, before rushing in to greet Rob.

“Is it in there?” Felipe asked, peering at the cage.

Rob bit back a sarcastic comment and nodded, just wanting to put the cage down. “Can I put this down? It’s bloody heavy.”

Felipe rushed back into the living room, closing the door between their and the kitchen. Rob followed and dumped the cage on the coffee table, shaking his arms a little.

“Did you have a good day?” Felipe asked, standing on his toes to press a gentle kiss to Rob’s lips.

“Well, it’s getting cooler,” Rob said. “I guess that means the van’s heater’s going to go next week.”

“Do not be so pessimistic,” Felipe said, cupping Rob’s cheeks. “Everything will be fine.”

“I’ll remind you of that,” Rob said.

“When it turns out I am right?” Felipe asked with a grin.

Rob rolled his eyes and kissed Felipe’s forehead.

“Are you going to get the boys then?”

 

Frankie, Felix, and Felipinho all sat on the sofa, eyes on the covered cage in front of them. Frankie was pretty sure under the blanket would be the rabbit. He’d spent the afternoon whispering with Felipinho over names for the rabbit, but they hadn’t been able to agree on one. Felix had spent most of the afternoon trying to work out what they were whispering about and winning all the races his brothers forgot about.

“We know you guys really want a rabbit,” Rob said. “But a rabbit is a lot responsibility and not everyone can look after one.”

“We will be very repompsimbility,” Frankie promised, Felipinho nodding enthusiastically. “We promise.”

“Yeah,” Felipinho said. “Promise.”

“I know,” Rob said. “But sometimes the rabbit still doesn’t like it…”

“It will like it here,” Felipinho promised.

“Daddy _please_ can we have a rabbit?” Felix begged, not quite having caught up with what was going on.

Rob turned to Felipe, who’d decided to stay out of the way and let Rob go along with his plan alone. He couldn’t help but smile, though. Maybe getting the boys a rabbit wouldn’t be _that_ bad an idea. In a few years’ time, of course.

“Alright then,” Rob said. “Take off the blanket.”

Frankie looked between Rob and Felipe, a little suspicious about the sudden change of heart. HE didn’t get to question them, though, before Felix had jumped up and pulled the blanket off of the cage.

“IT’S A FLUFFY WHITE ONE!”

Immediately, all three boys were on the floor in front of the cage, peering between the bars at the fluffy white rabbit.

“It’s so cute. I love it so much,” Frankie whispered.

“Can I hold it?” Felipinho asked.

“You have to be careful,” Rob said, opening the cage door to take the rabbit out. His friend had promised she was used to being handled by children, and happily hopped into Rob’s hands.

“ _I_ know how to hold rabbit,” Frankie said. “It was in…”

“The book?” Rob finished. He placed the rabbit in Felipinho’s hands, crouching down to help him. Felipinho gently brushed his hand over the rabbit’s fur, gigging a little when she shifted over on his hand.

“Hello Neymar.”

“We can’t call the rabbit Neymar!” Frankie said.

Rob rolled his eyes. The conversation wouldn’t last long, he told himself.

“It’s so snuggly,” Felipinho said, lifting the rabbit a little and gently pressing his cheek against her side.

“Be careful,” Rob warned. Though a broken rabbit would convince the boys they shouldn’t have one, he didn’t think his friend would really like it, or the rabbit.

“Let me hold him,” Frankie said, trying to take the rabbit from Felipinho.

“No, _I’m_ holding him.”

“Be careful!” Rob said when the rabbit squeaked a little. “You’re going to hurt her.”

“Her?” Frankie said, surprised. He let go of the rabbit, who curled a little closer to Felipinho, making Felipinho grin.

“Yes,” Rob said with a small sigh. “Pea, you need to let Frankie have a hold.”

“But she likes me,” Felipinho said, brushing the rabbit’s fur again.

Whilst Rob, Felipinho, and Frankie’s attention was on the rabbit, Felix jumped up, rushing around the table to Felipe.

“Pick-ups?”

Felipe lifted Felix onto his hip, letting the toddler wriggle around to make himself comfortable.

“This is the best day ever,” Felix said, wrapping his arms around Felipe’s neck and pressing his cheek against his step father’s chest. “Thank you so much!”

“You are very welcome,” Felipe said, but this time he knew exactly what the awful sinking feeling in his stomach was. This time it was guilt.


	10. Max & Carlos’ First Day At School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter by torobrosso (formerly siriuslywinchester)

Dan and Dany had underestimated just how busy it would be on a school morning. Trying to get two young boys ready for school, whilst Dany prepared himself for work was a big shock to them. Luckily Carlos was so excited about his school uniform that he'd donned it and managed to help Max into his clothing before Dan had finished making breakfast, but it still felt like there had been a lot of running around and getting under one another's feet.

Dany drove them all to the school gates, parking outside and helping the two boys out, ready to take them into their classes. Dan would take Max to the nursery and Dany would take Carlos to his class in the infant school. Dany was hoping it wouldn't take too long as he had to be at the bank for nine o'clock and it was already getting on for half past eight.

"Say Goodbye to Max," Dany said to Carlos as they walked down the path towards the classrooms, "You'll see him later."

Carlos waved a quick goodbye before excitedly pulling on Dany's arm to get to the classroom. Dany glanced back and Max was walking alongside Dan, looking over his shoulder with a sad pout, Teddy hanging limply from his arm.

"And who do we have here?" a bearded teacher asked as Carlos entered the room and gazed around at the other children who were all chatting with one another.

"This is Carlos," Dany said.

Carlos looked up at the teacher, a big grin on his face as he smoothed his jumper down. The teacher bent down in front of him.

"Do you like my new uniform?" Carlos asked, beaming down at the bottle green jumper.

"You look very smart, Carlos," the man replied, holding out his hand, "I'm your new teacher, Mr Alonso. Why don't you go and find a seat and I'll come over for a chat in a moment."

Carlos waved quickly at Dany before finding an empty chair and sitting in it, grinning around at the children he had joined, who all stopped their conversations to stare at him.

"It's his first day at school," Dany explained to the teacher, "Me and my partner adopted him a couple of weeks ago. He was schooled at the orphanage before that. It will be my partner, Dan who picks him up tonight, along with our other son Max who is in nursery."

"That's fine," Mr Alonso said, "I look forward to meeting them both, too. If there is any problems I will give you a call, but I'm sure he'll settle in fine. They're a lovely bunch of kids."

Dany smiled at the teacher and walked towards the door, waving again at Carlos as he left. The five year old was already happily chatting with a girl that was sat beside him - Dany wondered how long it would be before he had to worry about Carlos and girls. 

"So class," Mr Alonso said, walking over to the front of the room and grinning at the children before him, "Most of you will know from last year, I'm Mr Alonso. I'll be your teacher for this year. We have a new boy joining us today though and I want you all to make him very welcome. Say 'Hello' to Carlos."

The class chorused a 'Hello' in unison and Carlos grinned widely, though his face turned bright red.

"Now Carlos," Mr Alonso continued, "Did you do any maths at your old school?"

Carlos nodded enthusiastically.

"We were doing the two times table," Carlos said, "One two is two, Two two's are four..."

He continued right up until ten two's, not missing a beat. The whole class and their teacher were staring at him in wonder. Most of the other children had absolutely no idea what Carlos had just done, but Mr Alonso beamed proudly, walking across the room to where the child was sat.

"Wow!" he said, ruffling Carlos' hair, "It looks like we have a genius amongst us. We were just learning to add and subtract. Have you done that?"

Carlos nodded, remembering the amount of times he'd run out of fingers when he first learned to add. He could do most of them now though, but sometimes he had to draw lines on a piece of paper to remember where he was up to.

"Right then," Mr Alonso said, clapping his hands together, "Everyone grab their pens and notepads - I'll get you a set, Carlos - and we'll do some simple sums, shall we?"

\-----

Max clung tightly to Dan's hand as they entered the nursery. There were lots of kids running around and making noise and two teachers trying to keep control. Dan was fairly certain that one of the kids that ran past was their next door neighbour but he moved so fast he couldn't be sure.

He felt tiny fingers grip tighter as they walked further into the room and when Dan looked down Max's eyes were wide and he'd clutched Teddy to his chest. He looked terrified.

"Hello! I'm Mr Vergne." 

A young looking teacher walked over, a smile on his face as he shook Dan's hand and then bent down to chat with Max.

"You must be Max," he said, tickling the toddler under the chin, "We've all been looking forward to meeting you."

Max nodded, recognising that the strange man knew his name, but he edged slowly behind one of Dan's legs, gripping onto his jeans and sucking on Teddy's ear.

"Do you want to come and play?" Mr Vergne asked, "We have lots of toys."

Max shook his head, gripping Dan's leg even tighter as Mr Vergne pouted and pretended to cry. Dan reached down and pealed Max's arms from his leg, bending down alongside the teacher and brushing Max's cheek with his thumb.

"I want to play," Dan said, "I want to play with those cars over there."

Dan pointed to a corner of the room where there was a box full of cars and a few mats which had road layouts on them. He stood up and held his hand out to the toddler who took it with a confused expression on his face.

"Will you play with me?" Dan asked, walking slowly to the cars and getting down on his hands and needs to pick one up.

He picked a blue land-rover and rolled it down one of the roads, turning to grin at Max. Max had sat cross-legged beside him, Teddy on his lap as he watched Dan reach over and drive the car back along the road. The toddler was pouting and Dan could tell he was on the verge of tears.

"What's wrong, mate?" Dan said, pulling him onto his lap and kissing the top of his head, "Don't you want to play with all the toys?"

Max cuddled into Dan, tucking himself inside his jacket before looking up with puppy-dog eyes.

"You weave me here?" he asked.

"Only during the daytime," Dan replied, cuddling Max into him "I'll be back later. Mr Vergne will look after you and you can play with all the other boys and girls."

"Where Carlos?" Max asked.

"Carlos is at big school," Dan said, "Where you will be in a few years time."

"You not weave me like at orphalidge?" Max said, wiping his nose on his sleeve.

"No! No of course not, Maxy," Dan said, gathering the toddler into a hug and almost crying himself, "Never. You're just here to have fun and make friends and get ready for when you have to be a big boy like Carlos and go to big school."

"Pwomise?" Max said, his hands on Dan's chest as he tried to stand.

"Promise," Dan said, holding out the toy car.

Max took it from his hand and sat on his right thigh, running the car up his left leg so far that Dan couldn't help himself laughing as it tickled. He picked the toddler up and placed him on the car mat, crouching beside him as he started to play.

"Can I go then?" Dan said, "Mr Vergne will look after you and you can make some friends, yea?"

Max nodded, glancing around the classroom at the other boys and girls. He noticed a boy on the opposite side of the classroom and recognised him as one of the others boys that he had seen through the fence. He grinned, pushing himself up to standing and began to waddle over.

Dan watched him walk away, heading towards the nursery door and watching through the window as Max approached the boy that he definitely recognised as their neighbour now. Max had a huge grin on his face and Dan wondered whether he had already met Felix - they hadn't invited their neighbours round but maybe he'd seen them in the garden. The toddler held out the car, giving it to Felix with a grin on his face as he sat beside the boy - he hadn't even noticed Dan had left.

\-----

Dan stood nervously with the other parents outside Carlos' classroom. He felt a little like an imposter - all the mother's seemed to know one another and most of the father's were keeping their distance. Dan was eager to see how Carlos had done though, and was stood right up at the door, waiting for the bell to sound.

RIIIINNGGG.

The bell made Dan jump and he blushed furiously as some of the mother's bit their lips to stop themselves from laughing. He stepped away from the door slightly as it flung open and children began to run out. It seemed like all of the parents had claimed their children before Carlos finally appeared, holding a bearded man's hand and chatting animatedly.

"Ah, you must be Dan," the man said, holding out his hand as Carlos beamed and hugged Dan's stomach, "I'm Mr Alonso, Carlos' teacher. Your partner said you'd be meeting him. Have a nice evening Carlos, see you tomorrow."

"Bye Mr Alonso," Carlos said, taking Dan's hand, "Thank you for teaching me today."

Dan had to stifle a laugh at how enthusiastic and thankful Carlos was. He wondered if he'd still be this happy about school in a few years time - he hoped so, it would be a lot easier.

"So how was your day?" Dan asked as the pair of them set off around the school towards the nursery, "Did you make any friends?"

"It was great," Carlos said, bouncing along with both hands on Dan's, "Mr Alonso said that I'm a genius because I know my two times tables. And at lunch time Mr Alonso had to open my juice box because it was stuck closed. Mr Alonso says we might be going on a school trip soon, but he wouldn't say where. Mr Alonso is the best teacher. I like Mr Alonso."

Carlos barely paused for breath, finally stopping his praise for the teacher as they approached the nursery and caught sight of Max smiling as Mr Vergne wrote something on a piece of paper. The teacher stood, giving Max the piece of paper, as Carlos and Dan entered the room.

"He's done very well," Mr Vergne said grinning at Dan, "He's spent most of the day playing with Felix. We were just drawing a picture while we waited for you to arrive."

Max beamed up at Dan and handed him the drawing. There were five round blobs placed around a wonky square. Two of the blobs were almost the same size as the square, two medium sized and the fifth, attached to one of the medium blobs, was quite small. Underneath, Mr Vergne had written 'My Family - Max Verstappen' and the date.

"This is great," Dan beamed as Carlos pulled at his arm so he could see it, "We can put it on the fridge when we get home."

"Why?" Max said, screwing his face up - why would a picture go on the fridge? It should go on the wall, that's what Mr Vergne said.

"Because all of the _best_ work goes on the fridge, Maxy," Dan said, rolling the picture up and putting it in his pocket, "Now are you ready to go home?"

"Yep," Max said, jumping up and down and waving at his teacher, "Bye Misser Verm."

\-----

When Dany finally arrived home from work, he was exhausted but excited to hear about the kids days at school. It had seemed like a long day, and Dan hadn't contacted him to let him know how anything had gone. Max was curled up on the sofa, fast asleep with Teddy in his arms. He was sucking his thumb peacefully and Dany sat down on the sofa slowly, so as not to wake him.

"Hey Daddy Dany," Carlos said from the floor on the lounge, I'm practising my handwriting for Mr Alonso."

He was kicking his legs up behind him as he wrote his own name over and over again in a handwriting book which had several different coloured lines to signify how large certain letter should be.

"How was school?" Dany asked, as Carlos carefully put the top back on his pen.

"It was great," Carlos said, beaming, "Mr Alonso gave me this pen and this book. He said I have neat handwriting and that practising will make it better, so I'm practising because then tomorrow I can show Mr Alonso that it's better. And Mr Alonso said my uniform is very smart. And this morning in maths I helped a girl with her sums and Mr Alonso was proud and said that one day I could be a teacher like him."

"Wow!" Dany replied, when Carlos had finally stopped talking about his new teacher, "And what about Max, did he have a good day?"

"He drew a picture. Dan stuck it on the fridge."

Dany got to his feet, sliding his arms around Max and picking the toddler up before walking into the kitchen. Dinner smelt good and it made Dany's stomach rumble; in the pandemonium of the morning he'd forgotten to pick up his lunch.

"So what is this picture of?" Dany asked, as he walked over to the fridge and examined the blobs, "What are the blobs? And the square?"

"I think the blobs are supposed to be me, you, Carlos and Max and the square is the house," Dan replied, not looking up from the potato he was mashing.

Max squirmed in Dany's arms, pulling his thumb out of his mouth and scrunching his eyes tighter.

"And what's the grey thing?" Dany asked, leaning in to look at the small grey blob attached to one of the other blobs.

Max rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands, before looking up at Dany.

"Teddy, siwwy," Max said, shaking the bear in front of his face, "Teddy is famery too."


End file.
